Ex-Googlers try new jobs as VCs

The New York Times has a good read on the young, rich former Google employees who are now testing the waters as venture capitalists.

We’ve seen this trend before in the Pacific Northwest where Microsoft minted thousands of millionaries, some of whom have formed the bedrock of the Seattle venture capital community.

Former Microsoft managers and executives now working as venture capitalists include Pete Higgins at Second Avenue Partners, Mark Ashida at OVP Venture Partners, Steve Arnold at Polaris Venture Partners, Jon Staenberg at Rustic Canyon, angel investor Dan Rosen and a good portion of the team at Ignition Partners, including former Microsoft Chief Financial Officer John Connors and former senior vice president Brad Silverberg.

What’s interesting in the Google case is how quickly this new group of investors are jumping into the venture capital game — just three years after the search giant’s IPO.

In Seattle, most of the people named above joined or started venture capital firms in the past 10 years — a decade or more after Microsoft’s 1986 IPO.